Eighteen-year-old Ruby Dawson was born with the powers to move things with her mind. She thought she was the only one of her kind until she met Tristan-a self-destructive drug addict and a crew of super-powered thieves. Working in the shadows, the crew follows their fire conjuring leader, Madison, as they descend further and further into the world of organized crime.

Ruby finds herself in a whirlwind of wrong decisions, lies, murder, and realizations she isn’t ready to face. As Ruby watches Tristan disappear further into his drug addiction and her team fight for more money and territory, she struggles with who she has become. Can Ruby walk away from the closest thing she has to a family and be the hero she is actually meant to be?

The Highly Capable- Volume One of the Ruby Dawson Saga, an urban fantasy, is a tormenting and emotional tale of self-discovery.

This eBook was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Ruby Dawson is a tough eighteen-year-old girl who has lived on the streets and is now in league with a ‘talented’ group of individuals. These talents are actual mutant powers and she possesses the ability to move things with her mind and also inflict pain [even death,] on an individual with just her mind.

In the crew there is Tristan, a boy she met when she was living on the streets and has taken to dating, there is also his best friend, Brody. Tristan gets involved with drugs and begins to spiral and Brody is there to scoop Ruby up when she needs someone most.

The gang of talented individuals rob houses, and their leader, Madison, wants to grow and she has big plans for this group of talented people. Except Ruby is tired of killing, tired of stealing, tired of this life and when she spares the life of not one, but two people things begin to change.

Overall, this book was interesting enough to keep me turning the pages because I’m a huge fan of X-Men and this is X-Men-ish.

What I found hard for me was that there seemed to be so much focus on Tristan and Brody that it left no room for actual plot development or rather character development even. None of them are terribly likable or if they are you soon find you’re not so keen on them [in my case.] I found myself really just blinking at Ruby at times, but I think that’s the entire point. She’s trying to discover herself and she’s making stupid mistakes – just on a broader scale given the circumstances.

Once Ruby meets Darcy, a young talented girl and Charlie, a comic book store owner, things take a twist. We also meet yet another love interest. So now there are three guys involved in Ruby’s life – to me that was a little much and it distracts from what could have been a broader plot – it seems like the action, the battling and what Madison is up to is just a background story when it should be at the forefront.

In the end, it was a quick, decent read. It kept me wanting to know what happened, it left off at a good place. Altogether deserving of a 3.